My shifts in the Roston Native Butterfly House in August were relatively pleasant. I remembered to wear/turn on a neck fan that my husband had bought – and it keeps the heat tolerable. I hydrate well before the shift, drink some water during the shift, and finish off the rest of my water on the drive home! I am volunteering once a week and realizing that there are some shifts that the house is not open because there are not enough volunteers available. I am going to volunteer a bit more for the remainder of the season even though I have a lot of other commitments in September and October this year.

During a lull in visitors, I took macro pictures of great spangled fritillaries and giant swallowtails…

And a tiger swallowtail caterpillar on tulip poplar leaves and a black swallowtail caterpillar that had wandered off its carrot top. I took a video of a black swallowtail caterpillar that was actively feeding but it wasn’t in sharp focus.

All the images were taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The season for the Roston Butterfly House at the Springfield (MO) Botanical gardens ended the first weekend in October. I continued my weekly shifts.

On some of the cooler mornings in September, the caterpillars were the big show. Sometimes the skippers and hummingbird moths outside the house were more active. As the morning warmed, the butterflies in the house became more active and some seemed to enjoy sitting on people (including me)!

The large silkworm moths (cecropia, polyphemus, and luna) were not as available for display as during the summer months.

There was a very hungry tiger swallowtail caterpillar on a tulip poplar leaf; I made a short video.

My last shift was the Monday before the last weekend. The ‘stars’ of the shift were the Monarch butterflies (looking health and ready to migrate south), a black swallowtail caterpillar, and a luna moth (the last of the large species of silk moths we had to display).